Delta's Day Off
by gnarled
Summary: Long distance sequel to "A Moment of Marcus". After the final events of GOW2, Delta heads back to base for some much needed R&R, and Marcus has a rather interesting night. M for language and some smut, Marcus/Anya.
1. Afternoon

Meggie here--

Hey everyone, again! This is a longer fic than my first attempt at the Gears universe, with more awesome Marcus/Anya stuff. :D

This fic may be longer, but I'm doing a heck of a lot more editing on this than the first one, to get the story _completely_ perfect, so bear with me. The chapters are meant to be in little snippets. :3

* * *

"Them Locust sons of bitches got what was comin to their ass, _yeah_!"

Cole was pumped up, as always, leaping down the ladder into the newly constructed COG base of operations. Anya snickered at her comrade after she herself was on level ground.

From the outside, you wouldn't even know this was a base. The huge building was recessed into a cave on the other side of the bay from the now-sunken Jacinto. Baird had been confused as to where they were going until they were actually there. Essentially, the building was one large room with a command center sunk into the middle, and bunking rooms surrounding the perimiter.

"Shut up, Cole." Baird spat, on her other side. The Raven carrying the three of them had landed moments ago. There was one to follow in a few minutes, carrying Dom... and Marcus.

Speak of the devil, there they were. In this hallway there were skylights, and the afternoon sun illuminated the second King Raven rather brilliantly. The three of them heard it coming, and turned to face the ladder that they had just climbed down. A few silent seconds, and they heard the hatch wheel spin and open with a loud _clack_.

Dom leaped down first, his armor clanking as he hit.

"Hey hey hey!" He said, extending his arms in their general direction, and smiling a shit-eating smile. "Cutest pair of assholes I've ever seen."

"The Cole Train only needs himself baby!" Cole replied, laughing, and smacking Baird in the shoulder.

"Ow. Damn Cole." Baird said, rubbing where the former linebacker had punched. "Speakin of, where's Sgt. Sunshine?"

"Eat a fucking chainsaw, Baird." Marcus slid down the ladder, landing with a thud under all the armor's weight. "Alright Delta," he said, walking up to the group, "we're not done yet. Command Center. Let's move." The Delta Leader pointed his lancer, still held tightly in his hands, towards the opposite end of the hallway.

"You got it, bossman." Baird said, turning around and waving Marcus off. Dom caught up and followed close behind them, holding a friendly conversation.

Marcus followed, wrapping his arm around Anya's shoulders and shaking her slightly.

"How's it goin half-pint?" He said, smiling as he rarely did.

She laughed. "Whatever, Marcus. It's not my fault you're a giant."

He chuckled a little bit and let go as they entered the main room. There were generous amounts of both computer screens and paperwork scattered on various desks about the room. They all circled around a center command post; an enormous, holographic screen in the dead center of the room, which had two or three chart tables laid out around it. Next to one of these stood the Chairman and Colonel Hoffman.

The Colonel turned, seeing who had just entered the room.

"Sergeant Fenix!" Hoffman yelled over the assorted noise that came with occupying a command post.

"Shit."

"Fenix, get yours and the rest of Delta's asses down here. We've got some debriefing to do!"

"Yes sir!" Marcus yelled back, taking point and escorting his squad to meet the two most important men in Sera.


	2. Sunset

I know, it's short.

But thats how I like it.

More soon! --Meggie

* * *

Delta sat in a lopsided circle around the Chairman and Colonel, having stolen chairs from unoccupied desks around them.

"Waitaminute waitaminute waitaminute." Baird was shaking his head. "What did you just say?"

"I said you have the rest of the day off, soldier." Hoffman didn't laugh. He didn't even smile.

There was no way Baird would believe he was serious.

The Chairman piped in. "This squad has done great amounts for the war effort, much more than the COG could ever repay. You deserve much more, but all we can afford right now is one day."

"You heard the man, Baird! We ballin! We get the day off!" Cole smacked the blonde in the back of the head.

The Chairman nodded. "We have individual rooms for each of you. There are many Gears that were so far off the map that they haven't even heard the news. In the meantime, we have a surplus of bunks, so all of you can get some rest."

"Bitchin', man!" Dom seemed happy. Maybe not completely, Anya had heard earlier what happened to his wife from Marcus. But his smile was infectious, she felt herself smiling slightly as she sat at the nearest desk to the group, having a cup of coffee. She hadn't slept in god knows how long, so the coffee was a welcome perk-up.

She hadn't noticed how much Marcus was looking at her, from his seat across the room. He may as well have been staring off in to space in her direction, if someone were to look, they wouldn't be able to tell. He was motionless, listening on the outside, but his mind was a different story. He was thinking about _her_... again. It was frustrating. He went over and over again that feeling he felt when he saw her in the Raven across from him. The feeling his chest swelled up with when_ she _saw_ him_, held her hand to her chest and pointed to him. He saw her now as she was, her soft blonde hair tied up in a cute little bun, sipping some coffee... god _damnit_, he wanted to _smash his fucking head open._

"Yo, Marcus, you ok man?" Dom waved a hand in front of his face, looking concerned.

Marcus grunted. "Yeah. Just tired."

It seemed Colonel Hoffman and the Chairman had finished their little debriefing, and left while Marcus was still dazing. There was an attendant handing out doorkeys to their rooms; it seemed he and Dom had adjacent rooms, but Cole and Baird's were on the opposite side of the command center. Marcus took the key, grunting thanks, and tied it around his COG tags.

And then he had no orders. He could do whatever he wanted. There were no objectives to cover, no locust to kill, nobody to protect or save.

It was about damn time.


	3. Twilight

It's starting to get good, I promise! This one's a little longer. I'm really trying to keep them in-character.

--Meggie

* * *

"You got one of them for me?"

Marcus's familiar, gravelly voice filled her ears. Anya looked up from the dossier she had been reading. He was staring at the cup in her hand.

"A coffee? Sure, hold on." She put her papers down and got up to walk over to the coffee maker a few desks over. It was early evening, and most of the workers here had punched out. There were the few dedicated ones making their pay, but most of them half-assed everything. She had no problem with it of course, it gave her the extra room to have fresh coffee, even if the grounds were probably years old.

She filled a cup with the still-hot liquid, and returned to the desk. Marcus had pulled up a chair.

"Be careful, it's hot." She said, and he took it with a grunt. Immediately he sucked it down, in one gulp. The cup was about the size of his palm.

"Thanks." He said, crushing the cup in his fist. "What're you reading?" He asked, one of the papers in his hand, scanning it intently.

She glanced at his baby blues before organizing her papers. "It's an old dossier. Nothing really important."

"Yeah... on your mom. In the Pendulum Wars." He answered, handing her back the paper so she could organize it with the others. Her mother's face was a glaring mark, her picture next to that of an exploded tank. Anya felt her conscience wince.

"It's nothing. I wasn't even reading that one." She put the stack she held down, and rummaged around until she found the one she was looking for.

"Here we go," she said, handing it to him.

"Anya. This is Niles." Marcus gave her a skeptical look, immediately recognising the picture on the top.

"I know. Read it. It explains a lot, if you think about it. There's no official date, though, or any Chairman's signature. That's why I havent brought it forward yet. It was in my mom's old files."

Marcus grunted, and began to read.

Anya scooted closer and read over his shoulder, but couldn't help her eyes straying to his face. Only every now and then. She'd look at the enormous scar over his right cheek, his crumpled brow, the little wisps of tousled black hair sticking out from under his do-rag. Eventually they strayed down to his neck, which gave the viewer a good idea how much of his size was armor, and how much of it was actually _him. _

Hell, how long had she known him? Since the Pendulum Wars, Aspho Fields. She remembered meeting him and Carlos, Dom's older brother. She and Marcus were good friends, war buddies, that was it. If he had wanted to make a move on her, he would have by now. Plus, if he ever did, they would both be charged with fraternizing and would be discharged.

But the funny thing was, he had...

---

_"Marcus, I--" He didn't let her speak, just used one giant, armored arm to sweep her up and kiss her. He crushed their mouths together, and she tasted the nasty locust blood along with his decidedly more pleasant smoky breath. She felt his deperation as he squeezed her tighter. It was brief, but meaningful._

_After setting her down, her mouth open slightly, he spoke gruffly._

_"Dont you ever do that again." He said, his eyes never leaving hers before he stalked off to follow Dom and the others._

_---_

A loud _shnerrk! _snapped her out of her daydream. She focused on Marcus, and noticed the paper had dropped from his hand.

"Marcus?" She looked at him and rolled his head back to find he was sleeping. She placed a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. He was snoring!

"Marcus!" She spoke louder, attempting to shake his shoulders. "Marcus wake up!"

His eyes snapped open.

"You fell asleep."

"Hm. Guess I did."

"Call it a night, Marcus. God knows how long it's been since you've slept."

"Hey, everytime I'm awake, you are."

They shared a long glance, thinking of their late night conversations while Marcus had been out on missions.

"I'll go if you do." He said.

"But the Colonel--"

"Fuck the Colonel. If Delta has a day off, so do you. You're as much a part of the team as the rest of us are."

She sighed, defeated. She had so much work to do, and so little time... but she wasn't going to argue with Marcus. He was right, she had been pulling all nighters just as long as he had. Sleep was all too welcome.


	4. Evening

Really short, I know. Filler. Next one is the good one. Had to cut it because it was getting too long.

--Meggie

* * *

Anya had really tried to get to sleep. Really, she had. It was a welcome idea, after 36-plus hours awake. It wasn't even the coffee that was keeping her awake... it was Marcus.

It was so strange. Earlier he had asked her what room she was in.

--

_"524," She assumed he was going to walk her there. _

_Marcus grunted, looking at the key attatched to his dog tags. _

_"Really." He gave her his normal, blank look. "Mine's 525. Dom's got 526."_

--

It was so _strange_. Even though the thought bothered her, Anya needed sleep, and thinking about that alone definetly would not have kept her awake. No, it really was _Marcus_. She could hear him tossing and turning in the next room, smacking the wall with his elbows or fists or something. He'd been doing that for maybe an hour. Every now and then she'd hear a yell or a growl... the walls that separated the rooms were partitions, not actual walls, so sound travelled easily.

She had dosed through it for a little while, but now she began to get worried. Maybe it was just a nightmare. He was a soldier, it was bound to happen; hell, even she had them about what she saw through JACK. He had been right up next to the action, firing the guns and feeling the blood run down his armor.

Or maybe there were locust in there, strangling him.

If anything, she decided she had to go check on him, whether it be to make sure he was okay or just get herself some rest. And God, she despreately needed rest.


	5. Midnight

Ok. This is the one you've been waiting for. RATED M. (kinda. not really that graphic but still.)

--Meggie

_

* * *

_

_He rolled behind a huge block of concrete. This place used to be his fucking __house__, he didn't understand how these goddamned monsters could have violated his childhood home so badly. It had to be something his father did. His shitty fucking dad._

_He released another rat-ta-tat-tat from his lancer, slicing off some locust legs._

_And god, everyone was dying! Baird's head had exploded when they first started the assult. Cole had charged inside on his orders, and they had heard his tortured screams minutes later. Cole was unstoppable. Cole was like Tai, unbeatable, unkillable, but they were both dead! And then there was Dom, next to him--_

_What the hell! He looked beside him and saw Dom bleeding out the neck. A fucking locust had sliced him open when Marcus was right there! Why couldn't he protect __anyone__!?_

_"Don't you die on me Dom! Shit! Not you!"_

_"Mm-muh..." His voice gurgled. "Marcusss..."_

_"What Dom...fuck!" He scrambled to find something to stop the bleeding._

_"Marcuss.... wake--" He coughed up a fistful of blood. "wake up.."_

_"...What?"_

------------------------

"Marcus! Marcus wake up, it's not real! Marcus!"

"..Anya?" His eyes opened slowly, his mind not easily snapped out of the solid foundation it had been set in.

"Yes, god, its me." Anya sighed, so relieved he woke up; she'd been trying to wake him going on ten minutes. She was kneeling beside the cot, in her pajamas, no less; holding his hand up to her face, using her other one to feel his tousled, unkempt hair. His normal do-rag was on the small table next to the cot. ...What in the world was she doing?

"Anya.." He breathed.

Marcus felt her soft, smooth cheek. He could barely see her sihlouette, the room was pitch black, but he felt her hair next to her cheek and knew she had her hair down.

She knew he was pretty out of it from the way he'd been thrashing about, but what the hell was he doing now? His enormous hand -- big enough to crush her head at any moment -- was rubbing her face in little circles, his calloused fingers dancing about her features. This wasn't like him at all. And it was so damn dark, she couldn't even see where he was looking!

He moved his fingers across her cheek, around her ear, down her jaw to her tapered chin. Up they moved to her lips, and traced them... he remembered the day he kissed her, the day he saved her life. And he thought he'd want to do it again.

Anya felt him cup her jaw and tug her towards him. She was mostly in shock, her brain not processing things correctly, when his lips met hers like they did that day so long ago. He kissed her passionately and she kissed back, no locust blood this time. It was everything she had been dreaming about since-- but no.

She pushed him away, rather roughly.

"Marcus. What in the _hell_ are you doing?"

"What I shoulda done a long fuckin time ago."

He smashed their lips back together twice as rough as she had pushed him away, and this time, she couldn't resist. He used his enormous hands to hoist her off the floor and place her next to him on the bed, letting her wrap her arms around him. By just doing that, Anya realized how enormous his whole body was. The armor made him huge, but without it, he was still enormous, like he was some missing link between the locust and humans.

How long had it been since a woman was in his bed.. high school? Before the Pendulum wars, before the breeding colonies, before the Locust. Before the COG had stolen him away to fight in their bloodthirsty battles. But god, what a woman to have. Marcus had never confronted his feelings about her, he knew she was slightly higher priority to him than anyone else, but he talked to her all the time. He knew her. Of course he cared about her.

...But he _never_ imagined this.

He laid her head gently on the pillow, cradling her as he positioned himself over her. From her mouth he had moved to her neck, her pajamas cast on the floor along with his boxers. She nuzzled her face in his muscled neck, holding on to his massive shoulders while he caressed her back, pressing her up to meet him.

This was _SO_ much better than sleep.


	6. Morning

The aftermath. :D Enjoy! R&R! I want to know if I'm keeping them in character as good as I think I am. Thanks for reading!

--Meggie

* * *

Anya made sure he was snoring without problem before she moved.

It had been a good hour he kept her there, cradled under his arm, refusing to let her move at all.

--

_"You're not going anywhere" He growled, extremely apprehensive with every move she made._

_"Look, I can't Marcus, you know that." She huffed, back, just as frustrated._

_"Well... stay until I get to sleep. I'd rather dream about you than killing Locust."_

--

She guessed that was his macho way of telling her that she kept the nightmares away.

Somehow, Anya managed to find her clothes on the floor and get them on without issue. Her next challenge was to get from his room to her room without issue.

Before she left, she looked at him one more time. Her eyes had adjusted, so she could see his sleeping shape in the dark. He was as huge a man as she thought he was, and she felt no regret for what was going on between them.

Anya ran her fingers through his hair, kissed him lightly on the forehead, and exited the room.

----------------------------------------

Dom scratched the back of his neck. It felt good to be out of that armor, finally, he had one day to relax. His dreams had been filled with Maria all night, and he was kind of glad to have a bathroom break. In a working bathroom.

Scratching his crotch absentmindedly, he reached his door, and scanned the key some staff had given him earlier. He heard a _click!_,and pulled the handle... but it wasn't his door that opened, though, it was Marcus's.

He watched as the ...skinny blonde?.. stepped quietly out of his best friend's room, and closed the door silently. He didn't even hear a click.

"Anya?!" He whispered loudly, and saw her jump a foot.

"Oh shit, Dom." Anya covered her mouth as she turned around, dressed in a white cotton top and white cotton shorts, standard issue, no bra. "Dom, please--"

"Its almost three in the morning, what were you...?" He looked her up and down, and even in the faint glow of computer screens could see the red marks on her chest, the sweat on her face; and the uncontrolled state of her hair was hard to miss.

"Oh hell no." His jaw dropped as the picture came together. "With Marcus? What!"

"Dom, shhhh!" She hushed him, covering his mouth "Please, please don't tell _anyone_! You know what could happen!"

He looked her straight in the eyes for a moment, then nodded. She released her hand and sighed.

"Ok... thank god."

"But seriously Anya. Does fraternizing mean anything to you?"

"Shut up! Augh!" She opened her own room and went inside, fussing but closing the door just as quietly as she had Marcus's.

Dom smiled, almost laughing, and attempted to enter his own room again, succeeding. After closing the door, he sat down on the small cot and rubbed his face.

"Damn, Marcus. Son of a bitch."


	7. Daylight

This one is kinda lame, may not even be needed, but I thought it was a nice wrap up. Let me know what you think.

**EDIT:** got rid of the 1st part. Think this works better.

**EDIT 2:** Finally fixed Marcus's little quip. This is more what I meant.

--Meggie

* * *

"So Marcus, I ran into Anya last night." Dom said, as the two of them waited on the roof for the King Raven that would escort them to their next mission-- reconnaissance, for once. Ask questions first, shoot later.

"And?" Marcus shot the latino a look out of the corner of his eye, smirking.

"You've been really, like... smiley today. Ever since breakfast. With Anya."

"So? Maybe today's just a good day." He looked away, over the mountains and the ocean that had made the Jacinto Plateau so majestic.

"...Or maybe you got laid last night." Dom said, matter-of-factly. Marcus gave him a smug look, and said nothing.

"So how was it, man? Come on, you know what I wanna know. Baird's been slappin the monkey to her voice ever since he met her, and we've both known her longer than that!" Dom smacked Marcus in the shoulder with his lancer.

He paused for a moment, shrugging off the blow, and thinking of the right words to say.

"Remember all those stories you told me? You and Maria?"

"Yeah."

"Better than that." He said quietly, smugly.

"_No me jodas*_, Marcus! No one was better than Maria. I fucking told you _that_."

"Fine. Then pretty fucking close." Marcus smiled his sneering smile, and Dom nodded.

"I'll take that."

The Raven that was supposed to pick them up came flying over the mountain to the east. It angled itself towards the landing pad, and within a few minutes, they were boarding. Baird and Cole came up to say goodbye; they would be joining another COG reconnaissance group, and Baird would finally have his own squad.

And then there was Anya.

She exited the hatch right as the chopper lifted off. Dom watched Marcus give her the same sign she had given him a day earlier, and he saw the passion in Marcus's eyes as he did so.

Anya tapped her ear in reply, telling Marcus to turn on his earpiece. He did, and her voice fizzled in through the static.

"Take care of yourself, soldier. I'll be watching."

"Same to you, Lieutenant. Delta Out."

* * *

*_No me jodas_ means 'don't fuck with me' in spanish. I think. I have a fairly good source but I don't trust him.


End file.
